Murder by design

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Cady Kalian

"Maggie Mars used to be a journalist on the East Coast, but now she's come to LaLa Land to make a name for herself as a screenwriter... and maybe live her fantasy of someday meeting Jack Nicholson. When Maggie's dear mentor Roger, the Executive Director and Chief Negotiator for the Creative Artist's Union, is found dead in a bathroom, it makes big time news--especially when it's revealed that he was wearing a ladies' silky red garter belt and bra" -- from the publisher - (September 2006).

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James Patterson and Mark Pearson

For Hannah Shapiro, a beautiful young American student, this particular nightmare began eight years ago in Los Angeles, when Jack Morgan, owner of Private - the world's most exclusive detective agency - saved her from a horrific death. She has fled her country, but can't flee her past. The terror has followed her to London, and now it is down to former Royal Military Police Sergeant Dan Carter, head of Private London, to save her all over again. In central London, young women are being abducted off the street. When the bodies are found, some days later, they have been mutilated in a particularly mysterious way. Dan Carter's ex-wife, DI Kirsty Webb, is involved in the investigation and it looks likely that the two cases are gruesomely linked. Dan Carter draws on the whole resources of Private International in a desperate race against the odds. But the clock is ticking... Private may be the largest and most technologically advanced detection agency in the world, but the only thing they don't have is the one thing they need - time.

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Jeff Povey

When our hero finds himself in the path of a serial killer, he somehow manages to defend himself, and give the blood-thirsty madman a taste of his own medicine. But when he goes through the dead man's wallet, he finds a mysterious personal ad inviting him to join a party hosted by Errol Flynn. What begins with passing curiosity soon becomes uncontrollable obsession, as our hero becomes acquainted with 18 killers. Their game: to share the thrill of the hunt and to make sure no two members choose the same two victims. To protect their identities, they have all chosen names of old Hollywood stars, and before long, our hero becomes Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. But he has no intention of following the rules. With a government special agent on his trail who will soon become his partner in crim, "Dougie" plans to knock off the killers one by one, from Carole Lombard to Chuck Norris, to Laurence Olivier and Cher. But what happens when the "stars" notice their numbers dropping?

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Barbara Wood

When a massive earthquake strikes California no one could have predicted the astonishing discoveries that were to follow: as a swimming pool sinks into the earth, it reveals the entrance to a previously unknown cave. Archaelogist Erica Tyler knows this could be one of the finds of the century, and when she arrives at the scene her instincts are proved right: she finds an age-old cave painting, whose vibrant colours and symbols mark the world of the shaman; a pair of spectacles that predate known European colonisation; and further strange and astonishing artefacts. But most astonishing of all are the human remains of someone known only as the 'First Mother', dating back almost 2000 years... However, angry local homeowners want the cave filled in and their lives back to normal as soon as possible and Jared Black, formidable campaigner for the Native American Heritage Commission, wants the site claimed for the relevant tribe. Erica refuses to back down as a childhood of foster homes meant she grew up never knowing her real identity and she won't let the First Mother be consigned to history in the same manner...